Demonic Possession of an RV?

[Rancher Rob]

I'm not overly religious but I'm really starting to think my RV is cursed.

We've had it coming up on 3 years this summer since buying it new and have been barely able to use it due to all the problems and months on end in the repair shop. We've been able to take it out only maybe 8 weekends or so in 3 years as it's always waiting on repairs.

So a couple weeks ago, we just resealed the air horns and other things on top because another interior ceiling light was full of water (4th time that's happened). It seemed to fix it as no more water during the last rain storm. Last week most things in the RV finally seemed to be in good working order for a change so my son and I decided to run up to Leavenworth, wa for the weekend just to try out the RV.

While we were there things went bad again quickly:
1. A problem with the chassis rgen system seems to be developing with the freightliner chassis. You run the rgen while parked and then the rgen dash light comes back on 5 minutes later. I'll have to take it back to Freightliner for the 5th time.
2. The toilet quit working again (2nd time) and wouldn't flush. Luckily this time, we had a campground toilet 50 yards away. Not fun to run out when it's 26 degrees at night but doable. Better than being like a bear in the woods. Even the plumbing access panel we put on the back wall of the toilet to be able to get to the wires wouldn't open no matter what we tried.
3. The new victron equipment stopped working. Though maybe that is my fault as I installed it in the wrong place and it couldn't take the wet road grime exposure in the battery compartment.
4. Worst of all, for the 3rd time, our Equalizer jack system failed:
When we were retracting the jacks to leave, we heard what sounding like water spilling, went out to find hydraulic fluid all over the ground and the jacks not retracting. The front of the RV was stuck up in the air so we had no way to drive off! My son helped me work on it for an hour to no avail. Of course, being a Sunday in a remote small town, nobody was open to help us and Triple A could only offer to tow us but there is no way a big wrecker could get us out with the campground with snow drifts around. We ended up having to take the jeep and drive back home 5 hours so he could go to school the next day.

Things we learned as a warning/info to others:
1. The elbow and straight fittings that connect the hydraulic hoses to the jacks have flow restrictors. So, just removing the hoses won't relieve the pressure in the pistons. You have to remove the fittings too.
2. Even with all hoses and fittings removed, One of the jacks wouldn't push up. Maybe the shaft is bent or water got in it and froze, dunno yet. My repair guy had to dig under it to get a prybar and then a jack under it to get it strapped up in place.
3. You need to carry 2 ratchet straps per jack to safely keep them up and out of the way when the system is disabled. I was about to take a cutting torch up there but luckily my cooler headed mobile repair guy was able to band aid the jacks enough to hopefully get it home.
4. Equalizer tech admitted that their jack system gets a little erratic when the temps are below 30F. I thought these are supposed to be 4 season coaches. I'm looking into higher quality hydraulic oil with them that may solve this issue. After all, we use our tractors and heavy equipment hydraulics all the time in freezing winter temps with no problems.
5. If you're going to be in cold temps/weather, bring a heatgun, blow torch, insulated tarp, old warm coat that can get ruined, and heavy warm gloves. Insulated Tarp is so that when your laying on snow and ice in a pool of hydraulic oil, the heat from your coat doesn't melt the ice which then re-freezes to your coat It's amazing how fast the ice will suck the heat out of you even with a coat!

So tomorrow I'm driving back up there to pick it up and turn around drive it home again so it can sit for another few months of repairs and maybe an exorcism.

To end on a positive note, my son and I bonded and had a great time up until trying to leave. I think its the hours of conversation while driving thats the best! And it was a great learning opportunity for him to get a little more experience with equipment & vehicle repair. We love RV'ing! We just don't like Freightliner, Dynamax, Carefree awnings, and Equalizer systems. I think my wife is finally coming around and willing to take the loss so we can get something else. RV's are expensive and frustrating but the family time, bonding and memories are priceless!

[Greenhound386]

I have no feedback on the issues themselves, but I want to make 2 comments:

It took me a second to realize that the 'air horns' reference was to an actual component on the RV. I thought you were still going with the demon / curse / possession theme, haha!

Unless I am totally misinterpreting the intended tone of your post, it seems like you've got a pretty optimistic view of it all. At the least, you aren't sweating it a ton, and you still found a way to put the trip in the positive category. I admire that and wish I could do the same! I'm having way less significant issues with a new 5th wheel right now, and it's been stressing me out. And as you already identified, RVs are about the worst financial investment possible, but man, are they a good investment when it comes to making memories with the family! Sounds like you also managed to make yours a learning experience as well for your son.

[johndjmix]

"RVs are about the worst financial investment possible"


Maybe in the past, but not these days! RV's are an asset that increases value over time. Since i bought mine 2 years ago, ive seen the value go up over $75,000!


--John

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by johndjmix

"RVs are about the worst financial investment possible"


Maybe in the past, but not these days! RV's are an asset that increases value over time. Since i bought mine 2 years ago, ive seen the value go up over $75,000!


--John

Sell it - the increase is temporary. Its just a Supply and Demand thing and soon the many neophytes that thought the RV was a solution to an easy, cheap, infinitely accessible permanently available vacation resource will realize how hard they have to work to make that a reality. And as has happened (since the 60s at least), the bottom will fall out of the market. Planes and boats too.

[CyberShanks]

I plan on continuing to work for it, till paid off and enjoy it even more after doing so. I think these M2 based rigs will hold their value for quite some time.

Jim

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by johndjmix

"RVs are about the worst financial investment possible"


Maybe in the past, but not these days! RV's are an asset that increases value over time. Since i bought mine 2 years ago, ive seen the value go up over $75,000!


--John

It's a weird economy now . if you can get 75g over what you paid now take the money and run . this up-side down market won't last much longer . in the end if you keep it it will fall to close to zero given enough time .

[vlamgat]

Originally Posted by CyberShanks

I plan on continuing to work for it, till paid off and enjoy it even more after doing so. I think these M2 based rigs will hold their value for quite some time.

Jim

Hmm - presumably you are also indifferent to operating cost so be ready to feel the same way when diesel hits $6 per gallon. Unleaded 100 octane gas is already at $15 per gallon. The hiatus we experienced for the last decade is not going to return until there are enough electric vehicles to place the US refining capacity in a vast surplus. That may not happen but history shows that whenever there is a technology change the outgoing technology always hangs around longer than its economics should dictate out of misplace optimism.

[frozen]

Glad to learn I'm not the only one. We've always been travel trailer and 5th wheel people, but 3 years ago we bought a new DP so we could tow our Jeep. It had a couple major problems that the manufacturers of the coach and chassis couldn't/wouldn't fix after 2 years of trying. It caused me so much stress that it was affecting my health. I named it SATAN. I performed an exorcism; Satan is gone and we're back to a 5th wheel.

[Cold Lake Kid]

I haven't had any problems with my 2013 Forest River Motor Home, but I played it smart when I bought it.
A year old rental!!!
"They" had to fix things found by the renters to be able to rent it!!!!
BWHAHAH!

[Grumpy7159]

The DW and I looked at a Dynamax before buying our 5er. Your story is not uncommon. We heard it from more than one source. The people that luck out and get a good one, love them. Those that are not so lucky trade them in. I am not sure I would buy a newer used one. I will keep the 5er for now.

[Thatdarncat]

Its is possessed...the devil squeezed the heck out of that lemon!

[MikeRP]

I’m a Cummins fanboy, I’m assuming that’s your engine. And if you are talking engine regeneration, I would never do that sitting still. So if it said Regen, when your setting up. I would just turn it off and make sure the next time you turn the engine on for any length of time you are hitting the freeway till the regen is done. That’s exactly what I do w my Ram. You could also manually lower the gear and this raise the rpm and it will regenerate a little bit faster.

Also on our fifth wheel you can use a electric screwdriver, I forget which socket to use, to retract the hydraulic jacks. Does yours have this feature?

This is isn’t Satan it’s engineering. Lol

[Nomore9-5]

Originally Posted by Rancher Rob

I'm not overly religious but I'm really starting to think my RV is cursed.



We've had it coming up on 3 years this summer since buying it new and have been barely able to use it due to all the problems and months on end in the repair shop. We've been able to take it out only maybe 8 weekends or so in 3 years as it's always waiting on repairs.



So a couple weeks ago, we just resealed the air horns and other things on top because another interior ceiling light was full of water (4th time that's happened). It seemed to fix it as no more water during the last rain storm. Last week most things in the RV finally seemed to be in good working order for a change so my son and I decided to run up to Leavenworth, wa for the weekend just to try out the RV.



While we were there things went bad again quickly:

1. A problem with the chassis rgen system seems to be developing with the freightliner chassis. You run the rgen while parked and then the rgen dash light comes back on 5 minutes later. I'll have to take it back to Freightliner for the 5th time.

2. The toilet quit working again (2nd time) and wouldn't flush. Luckily this time, we had a campground toilet 50 yards away. Not fun to run out when it's 26 degrees at night but doable. Better than being like a bear in the woods. Even the plumbing access panel we put on the back wall of the toilet to be able to get to the wires wouldn't open no matter what we tried.

3. The new victron equipment stopped working. Though maybe that is my fault as I installed it in the wrong place and it couldn't take the wet road grime exposure in the battery compartment.

4. Worst of all, for the 3rd time, our Equalizer jack system failed:

When we were retracting the jacks to leave, we heard what sounding like water spilling, went out to find hydraulic fluid all over the ground and the jacks not retracting. The front of the RV was stuck up in the air so we had no way to drive off! My son helped me work on it for an hour to no avail. Of course, being a Sunday in a remote small town, nobody was open to help us and Triple A could only offer to tow us but there is no way a big wrecker could get us out with the campground with snow drifts around. We ended up having to take the jeep and drive back home 5 hours so he could go to school the next day.



Things we learned as a warning/info to others:

1. The elbow and straight fittings that connect the hydraulic hoses to the jacks have flow restrictors. So, just removing the hoses won't relieve the pressure in the pistons. You have to remove the fittings too.

2. Even with all hoses and fittings removed, One of the jacks wouldn't push up. Maybe the shaft is bent or water got in it and froze, dunno yet. My repair guy had to dig under it to get a prybar and then a jack under it to get it strapped up in place.

3. You need to carry 2 ratchet straps per jack to safely keep them up and out of the way when the system is disabled. I was about to take a cutting torch up there but luckily my cooler headed mobile repair guy was able to band aid the jacks enough to hopefully get it home.

4. Equalizer tech admitted that their jack system gets a little erratic when the temps are below 30F. I thought these are supposed to be 4 season coaches. I'm looking into higher quality hydraulic oil with them that may solve this issue. After all, we use our tractors and heavy equipment hydraulics all the time in freezing winter temps with no problems.

5. If you're going to be in cold temps/weather, bring a heatgun, blow torch, insulated tarp, old warm coat that can get ruined, and heavy warm gloves. Insulated Tarp is so that when your laying on snow and ice in a pool of hydraulic oil, the heat from your coat doesn't melt the ice which then re-freezes to your coat It's amazing how fast the ice will suck the heat out of you even with a coat!



So tomorrow I'm driving back up there to pick it up and turn around drive it home again so it can sit for another few months of repairs and maybe an exorcism.



To end on a positive note, my son and I bonded and had a great time up until trying to leave. I think its the hours of conversation while driving thats the best! And it was a great learning opportunity for him to get a little more experience with equipment & vehicle repair. We love RV'ing! We just don't like Freightliner, Dynamax, Carefree awnings, and Equalizer systems. I think my wife is finally coming around and willing to take the loss so we can get something else. RV's are expensive and frustrating but the family time, bonding and memories are priceless!

It's notpossessed . It's just typical of the poor quality standards in the RV industry no matter what the brand . Bad enough the last several years but now even worse with supply chain issues etc due to covid.

[Orangecrush]

Speaking of demonic possession, we’re at the beach and the faucet started to leak in the kitchen. Okay, no big deal. I turn off the water and undo the lines.

All of a sudden, the water pump kicks on by itself and by the time I realize what is going on, the lines have dumped a ton of water behind the little wall under the sink.

I say a ton because every bay on the passenger side is dropping water.

ugh.

So, now I have no electric plugs working. Where is the gfi? Is there one?

2018 DX3

Thanks,

Mark

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by Orangecrush

Speaking of demonic possession, we’re at the beach and the faucet started to leak in the kitchen. Okay, no big deal. I turn off the water and undo the lines.

All of a sudden, the water pump kicks on by itself and by the time I realize what is going on, the lines have dumped a ton of water behind the little wall under the sink.

I say a ton because every bay on the passenger side is dropping water.

ugh.

So, now I have no electric plugs working. Where is the gfi? Is there one?

2018 DX3

Thanks,

Mark

When you disconnected the lines to the faucet the pump sensed a loss of pressure on the output side and kicked on. No demons here it was functioning as it is designed to do.


The GFI is most likely in your bathroom above the sink.

[Orangecrush]

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

When you disconnected the lines to the faucet the pump sensed a loss of pressure on the output side and kicked on. No demons here it was functioning as it is designed to do.


The GFI is most likely in your bathroom above the sink.

That makes complete sense, and I’m sure the amount of water that laid on the ground over the lines and tripped over the circuit shorted everything out… Lol. The GFI is actually with the main breakers under the stove.

Thanks,

[1010]

To the OP, Does your state have a lemon law that covers RVs? We purchased a TT from another manufacturer, it was a bad experience from day one. So many “little things” happened almost immediately, but hey, it’s a house bouncing down the Highway, stuff happens. Every trip resulted in something failing, leaking, or falling down. The interior roof fell down one trip. The exterior roof was replaced 3 times and the issue was never resolved. The TT was at the dealers for repairs 8 months for repairs, it was at the factory for over 4 months for repairs and doesn’t include the several months it sat at home waiting to go in for service while unusable. Unbeknownst to me Ca. Has a lemon law that includes RVs. I read the law, my TT met the definition of a lemon. I contacted an attorney, within 4 months I had a settlement that was unbelievable. I dumped that lemon off at the dealer I bought it from, a happy man. I kept all records, notes on phone calls etc which left the manufacture little wiggle room.

[bclemens]

As a side note, the only vehicle we advertise as 4-season is the Isata 5 with Xplorer package. Other users have used them in colder temps...I know of many that have used them successfully in the teens.

I offered a long time back, if you give me a number, I am sure I can find a dealer to take it off your hands.

[Sergiop]

Seems like there’s a better chance of winning the lottery than buying a well built RV.

[Orangecrush]

Originally Posted by Orangecrush

That makes complete sense, and I’m sure the amount of water that laid on the ground over the lines and tripped over the circuit shorted everything out… Lol. The GFI is actually with the main breakers under the stove.

Thanks,

I just realized... would the low pressure set the water pump off if the water pump is turned off??